I Will Follow You Into The Dark
by Skatinggirl2011
Summary: Sequel to Te Busque. Johanna and the rest of the crew are sent on a five year mission to a new planet that is in the middle of a civil war. KirkxOC Story is much better than the summary; I suck at writing summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**Yay for the sequel! I'm so pumped to write this you guys, I hope you all like it. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and will help me to keep updating the story If you haven't read the previous story, I would suggest going back and reading it first, but you don't have to. You just might be a little lost on some things.**

**Disclaimer: I own only the OCs, although I do wish I owned Star Trek**

I sat at the Enterprise's bar, all alone with my usual cup of water. It had been a week since Kirk told me he actually loved me, along with finding out my father had died; I'd also met some other people, who also worked on the Enterprise. I'd become pretty good friends with Scotty, and this one other girl who worked in Sickbay. It was the first night back on the Enterprise, and it brought back all the exciting-yet terrifying memories of their previous scrap with the ex-leader of Ba'ku, which had happened a little over six months ago. The formal leader of Ba'ku was impeached, which resulted in him creating a machine to use against his own planet that would slowly suffocate the inhabitants of that planet. Luckily, we'd stopped him just in time- surprisingly enough. We'd been on a few smaller missions, just exploring different territories.

Even though it had only been a day, I'd already had a fight with Kirk about something that was so small and stupid. It had to do with me not being upset about my father's death, and Kirk saying it seemed like it didn't phase me at all. Don't get me wrong, I was terribly distraught about it, but I didn't want to focus on those emotions. So I wound up pushing those emotions to the back of my mind so that it wouldn't affect me.

I felt stupid fighting about it. I'd been the one who'd started the yelling; I'd overreacted because I was too on edge. His little comment, or whatever it was, just set me off. It wasn't his fault at all, which made me feel even worse.

Bones, Kirk, and Scotty walked into the bar, interrupting my thoughts. Scotty and Bones nodded politely at me, but Kirk didn't even acknowledge me. Annoyed, I took a sip of my water, and slammed it back down on the table.

"Hello, Yohanna!" an all too familiar, and enthusiastic, voice said. My mood increased as soon as I saw Chekov standing there in front of me.

"Hey!" I jumped up out of my chair, and hugged him, causing Chekov to blush, and Kirk to look over at us while he was ordering drinks. I smiled a bit to myself when I saw that jealous look in Kirk's eye. "How are you? How was your time off?"

We both sat down at the table, as he told me all about his relaxing time off. "You know zat Russia vas the first country to establish colonies for different alien races?" I had to laugh, Leave it to Chekov to bring up Russia into a normal conversation; good old Chekov and the pride he took in his country. "So hov vas your time off?" he asked me, still smiling that boyish smile.

"It was good," I said, leaving out the fact that my father had just died. "I basically just hung out with some friends-"

"Uh, Yohanna, is eweryzing okay? Keptain Kirk keeps on looking ower here." I looked back at Kirk, who was, indeed, looking over at us, making sure we weren't doing anything suspicious.

I sighed, and shook my head. "No, I don't think everything is." I looked down at my hands, a little bit embarrassed. "I better go; but I'll see you tomorrow. I'm really sorry I'm running out on you."

Chekov nodded, automatically picking up on what was going on between Kirk and me. "It's no problem. It vas nice talking vith you."

I smiled, and rose up out of my chair, smiling. "It was nice talking to you too."

I slipped out of the bar, quietly, but not before catching Kirk's eye. I wanted to make sure he saw me leaving. I heard him tell his friends he'd be right back, and then he followed me out of the bar. As soon as we were out of sight, Kirk grabbed my arm, and spun me around to face him.

"Kirk, I don't want to talk about it right now," I yelled, already knowing he was going to bring up the unfinished fight.

"Too bad, Jo-"

I was tired of being yelled at again, and of fighting, so I sucked up my pride, and interrupted, "Look, I'm sorry. I overreacted; I'm really, really sorry. I don't want that stupid fight to screw us up; that would really suck, because Kirk, I do love you-" there I was rambling again, "and the only reason why I snapped at you was because I was overwhelmed; it wasn't your fault, but I still took it out on you-" He finally shut me up by pressing his soft, warm lips to mine.

Kirk was good at that: knowing when to interrupt my rambling. I could feel him smiling; he knew he'd instantly calmed me down with that kiss.

He pulled away, still smiling, and asked, "Do you want to come back to my room?"

I laughed. "Wow, first we were fighting, and now you want me to come to your room, and what about your friends at the bar?"

Kirk shrugged. "They'll understand; now seriously, Jo, do you?" Instead of teasing him even more, I seriously thought about it. Why'd we always have to go to his room? Mine was perfectly fine.

"Why don't we go back to my place? We never go to my place-" _Stop it, Jo, you're nagging_ "I miss my place."

He laughed, and took my hand, leading me down the confusing hallways of the Enterprise. "Yeah, I guess we can," he said, quietly, not wanting to wake up the people in the other rooms.

I took the liberty of leading him the rest of the way down to my room, and entered the code to get into my room. The doors swished open, and we entered into my room. The doors closed behind us, and Kirk began exploring around my room.

"When did you put pictures in here?" he asked, picking up a picture of my friends and me after my first show as a prima ballerina.

"This morning when I moved back in," I replied, walking over to Kirk. "I wanted to make it feel like home."

Kirk nodded, and turned around to face me, smiling. He wrapped his arms around my waist, instantly sending chills up my spine; I looked up at him, smiling back at him.

"So, why were you hanging out with Chekov?" Kirk asked. "You looked very happy with him."

My smile grew even wider as I began to realize that I really did make him jealous. "Do I detect a little jealousy?"

"No," Kirk lied, focusing his gaze on whatever was behind me.

"I was hanging out with him because he's my friend." Kirk still wasn't looking at me. I placed a hand on his cheek, and gently turned his face so he would look at me. "Hey, he's nothing more than a friend, I love you, and would never do that to you. Don't worry." I gently kissed him, and then walked over to my closet; I reached into one of my boots that I never wear for my secret stash of cigarettes. I pulled one out the pack, and reached for my lighter, only to have it snatched out of my hand by Kirk.

"I thought you were giving that up," Kirk pointed out, grabbing my stash of cigarettes, along with the cigarette I was holding. He was right, I did give it up for a while, not wanting to end up like my mother; but right now, I couldn't take it anymore, and I needed to smoke. "You promised me, Jo."

I had promised him I would quit, and he'd promised me he would help. A tinge of guilt surfaced as I thought about that. He'd been keeping his end of the bargain, and I was starting to slip up. Once again, I sucked up my pride, and said, "I'm seriously sorry, Kirk, I'm trying my hardest. It's just really hard for me to quit." I looked down at my fett, embarrassed. It seemed like I was apologizing a lot, which was getting easier to do; but it sucked.

Kirk tilted my head up so that I would look at him. "Just as long as you don't smoke, it's okay. You haven't smoked, right?"

Meekly, I shook my head. The truth, however, was that I had smoked earlier that day after we'd gotten into a fight; but he didn't have to know that. As long as he didn't smell the smoke- which miraculously he didn't- I was safe.

I did want to quit, in my defense, just not cold turkey like that. It would've been easier to quit if Kirk allowed me to drink; but unfortunately he didn't because Bones had told him it wasn't good for my condition to drink.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" I asked him, randomly, changing the subject. "I'm going to the kitchen for some water."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll take a water too." I smiled up at him, and walked over to the kitchen. I went over to the cupboard, pulled out two glasses, and walked over to the sink to fill up the glasses; but I never did wind up filling them. As soon as I reached the sink, I had a sudden emotional flashback to the day of my mother's funeral. Tears threatened to fall again. As I relived seeing my mother's open casket, and my father crying for the first, and last, time. My whole body began to quiver as I saw my mother being placed into her grave; I thought about how my father must be laying next to her now, peacefully; that fresh heap of dirt filling in the newly dug grave. I suddenly missed both of them, and longed to see them again, knowing that I never would.

I collapsed onto the floor, sobbing; sending the glasses crashing onto the ground around me. Shards of glass flew everywhere, making a mess of the kitchen floor.

Kirk was immediately at my side, cradling my in his arms. We didn't speak one word. He didn't even gloat that he was right. As much as I hated to, I had to admit I wasn't fine.

**Well, there's the first chapter; I hope you liked it. I'm going to try to get the next one out in two days, but I can't promise anything. I also wanted to say thanks to srslyallison- for allowing me to use one of her characters, who should be showing up in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey you guys! First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who've added this story onto your favorites; that means a lot to me. Well, here's the next chapter; I hope you all like it. As always please review. They keep me motivated, and it's not that hard to do. Just click the little button at the bottom of the page, and write a review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, I only own the OCs that show up in here, and srslyallison- owns Adie :)**

We lay there together on the kitchen floor; I didn't want to move to the bed, afraid that if I did, the tears might start up again. Kirk stayed with me on the floor all night. Glass shards were still scattered all around us; neither of us had bothered to clean it up yet.

Kirk was already dressed in his golden captain's shirt and black pants. He'd changed while I was supposed to begetting us water last night. We he'd decided to change in the middle of the night, I had no clue; but he did. He was ready to get back to work; that's all he really talked about last night to keep me distracted, and it actually worked.

Kirk looked over at me, and saw I was awake. He rolled over onto his side to face me. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked, quietly.

I didn't move to face him; my body was too wiped out for that. "I don't know; I'm feeling tired."

"Are you up for breakfast?" He asked. I shook my head. There was no way I could bring myself to move. "Do you want me to get you something?" I nodded, and he slowly got up onto his feet.

"What time is it?" I mumbled.

"4:30 in the morning." Why was I up so early? I should be sleeping right now, which was probably why I was so tired. I hadn't gotten any sleep at all, mainly because I had too many thought running through my mind. Kirk laughed at the sight of me lying on the ground. Apparently he found me funny. "Do you want me to help you back into bed? It would probably be a lot more comfortable." I managed to shake my head; I was perfectly fine with staying on the floor. Unfortunately, Kirk had other plans. He scooped me up into his arms, and brought me over to the bed, laying me down, and smiling triumphantly.

"Hey, I thought I said I was fine just being on the floor so that I wouldn't have to move," I groaned, closing my eyes, ready to fall asleep.

"You didn't move," Kirk remarked, smugly, getting ready to leave for breakfast. "I moved you; but you weren't the one moving."

My eyes shot open so that I could glare at Kirk. "Oh whatever."

"Oh whatever," he mimicked back, as he walked towards the door; I rolled my eyes, and then shut them tightly to block out the studio lights illuminating the room. "I'll be back soon," I heard him say, then joking around, he added, "don't miss me too much." I began to laugh, as he left the room; he certainly was a character. I rolled over onto my stomach, burying my head into my pillow, ready to relax; but as soon as I got around to relaxing, Kirk had already returned with a large tray of food.

"Wow, that was fast," I remarked as I sat up in bed, making room for Kirk. Smiling, he sat down beside me, and placed the tray of food in front of us. There were all sorts of food there: muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. You name it, it was there.

"Alright, so we have your favorites: pumpkin muffin, and some scrambled eggs; some orange juice and some toast," Kirk pointed out, removing the napkin that was covering my plate to keep the food warm.

"I'm assuming the rest of the food is yours?" I asked, picking up the pumpkin muffin, and biting into it.

A huge smile appeared on Kirk's face, as he nodded. "Yeah, but you can have some if you're still hungry I guess."

I leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much, this is wonderful."

He nodded, and we began to eat. Eating something seemed to help tremendously as far as boosting my energy went. I really hadn't eaten anything yesterday, since it had been a busy day on the Enterprise.

There was a knock on the door after we'd finished eating. I let out a frustrated sigh, as Kirk got up out of bed, and walked over to the door, opening it. Bones was standing there; he had a confused look on his face. "I thought I might find you here," Bones said. "Can I talk with you privately?" His southern drawl was coming through, causing me to smile. I loved southern accents. Kirk nodded, and they left the room.

* * *

"There might be a problem with you seeing someone under your command; if Starfleet finds out about you and Jo, they might reassign her to another ship. So I would suggest you keep your relationship with that chick under wraps," Bones warned.

"What brought this up?" Kirk asked, a bit confused at how random this topic was; and what did Bones care about their relationship?

"I'd just been hearing some talk about it from some of my patients-"

"I didn't think many people knew about it."

Yeah, well they do. So I would suggest-"

"They wouldn't do that, she's the best communications officer we have; so what have we got to worry about? Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to the room."

Bones just shook his head, disapprovingly, and went in the opposite direction of Kirk.

* * *

Later on in the day, all of us were up on the bridge, doing our jobs- not that there was much to do, but we were still needed up there. Kirk was communicating with Spock, and occasionally I would talk to Chekov and Sulu to keep myself busy and occupied.

Every so often, Kirk would get up from the captain's chair, walk over to me, and ask, quietly, if I was doing well; every time, I would reply the same thing: I'm doing just fine, Captain. He'd always wink at me and smile, causing Chekov to roll his eyes at us.

Occasionally, I would take a break and go down to Sickbay to visit Adie, a Vulcan girl- even though she didn't act like one, which was nice- who I'd met last week when Bones introduced her to Kirk and I. She was the only one that knew about my father's death, besides Kirk and Nikki, and so far she'd been really kind and understanding, which definitely helped out a lot.

Around nine o'clock, Kirk let the bridge out to get some rest for tomorrow. However, Kirk, Bones, Adie, and I went to the bar to hang out. Adie and I were the only ones at the bar who didn't have alcoholic drink, even though I was tempted to.

"I would like to toast to our upcoming mission," Kirk said, slurring his words together, "and to our two lovely women."

"You're so drunk," I told him, laughing along with Adie at how much Kirk and Bones were wavering in their seats.

"Kirk, how'd the two of us wind up with two amazing women?" Bones hiccupped, and took another sip of his whiskey. I had to say, Bones was pretty hilarious when he was drunk- of course, the majority of drunks are funny.

"So how was your day?" I asked Adie, trying to ignore the extremely entertaining show that Kirk and Bones were putting on by giving the bartender a hard time.

"Quiet uneventful. It was unusually quiet today. How was your day?"

I sighed. "Same here on the bridge; there's nothing really for me to do until we reach that planet; there's no record of what language the people speak, or any of their customs, so I can't really study anything at the moment. It's really frustrating."

"That's understandable to be frustrated at that." Adie wasn't looking at me anymore; instead, she was smiling, and staring at Bones, who was doing the same right back.

I looked at Kirk, and smiled, knowing that both Bones and Adie probably wanted to be alone. "Kirk, we should go," I told him, getting up from my seat, and pulling on his arm, trying to get him to move.

"What? Why? I haven't finished my drink yet," Kirk protested.

"I think you've had enough to drink; now c'mon." I pulled on his arm again. "Oh, I see what you want," he said, a huge smirk was now playing on his face. "We can go back to my room; I cleaned for you. I know how you like things clean."

I rolled my eyes; obviously Kirk and I weren't on the same page; but I played along anyways. There was no way he'd realize what was going on right now- he was way too drunk. "C'mon, Casanova, let's go."

He immediately got up, stumbling a little, and slung an arm around my shoulders, as he headed out for another night of doing anything but sleeping.

**Well, I hope you all liked this chapter, I should have the next one out in two days- as long as nothing pops up out of the blue. Review please! You know you want to ******


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Well here's the next chapter, I hope you all like it. Please review you guys; reviews keep me encouraged to write.**

**Disclaimer: same as always, look back at first two chapters if you need one.**

I was running on two hours of sleep the next day. All day I was fighting to stay awake. I probably shouldn't have slept with Kirk last night; I really needed to get some sleep. I spent my day studying the cultures of the planets around the newly discovered planet, looking for any similarities that each planet had to each other, hoping that it would help some when we arrive in two days. I couldn't believe we'd be on that planet for five years; that was such an unbelievably long time.

Luckily, it was another quiet day on the bridge, so that meant very little stress- which was exactly what I needed at the moment. However, there was still plenty of things to do to keep myself and my mind busy. It was a little difficult to keep my mind off my father. Tears were constantly in my eyes; but luckily, they never fell. I would receive worried glance from Kirk every so often, but I would just smile at him, and continue working. I had to admit, I really did miss my father, strangely enough; but I wouldn't show it due to the risk of someone accusing me of being emotionally compromised.

All during the day, my thoughts would be all over the place. I'd constantly be thinking about Kirk or my father, and then occasionally I would think about Bones and Adie. I wondered if he'd finally mustered up the courage to tell her how he really felt. He'd always had a rough time voicing those sorts of thoughts ever since his divorce. I really hoped he had; Adie would be good for him.

I really didn't get much work done; I was distracted by Chekov talking to me, or by my random thoughts. It was a pretty unproductive day, and I felt badly about it; I was never unproductive. I really needed to step up to the plate- or whatever the expression was- and start working.

It had been a pretty rough day as far as my thoughts and "flashbacks" went. I'd continued to relive things that had happened in the past; they were of the good times I'd had with my father, which made it hard to stay focused today. I went to see Bones to talk to him about my father. I figured since he was a doctor, he might be able to explain why I felt so upset over the death of my father. I mean, I could understand why any other person would be upset over the death of a parent; but I wasn't even close to my dad- I never really knew him.

I found Bones in his office, doing dictations on the patients he'd seen earlier in the day. I knocked on the open door, and Bones looked up from the electronic charts.

"Hey Bones, may I speak with you for a moment?" I asked. He nodded, and gestured for me to take the seat in front of his desk.

"What's on your mind, Johanna?" he asked, his southern accent coming through again, causing me to smile. He took a drink from the bottle of whiskey that was next to the charts. His desk was a mess; but I supposed that was a guy thing: being messy.

I let out a sigh, and said, "I'm confused; my father died a week ago, and I'm pretty upset about it."

"Well, that's a normal way to react over a death-"

"I know, but I wasn't even close to him at all; so why am I so upset over it? I mean, everything's going so well for me right now, so I should be happy, but I'm not."

Bones thought it over for a bit, not used to being asked these sorts of questions about feelings; that wasn't in his field- he was a doctor, not a psychiatrist. "Well, the reason to why you might be upset is probably because that comfort of having a parent still alive is gone. You probably feel like you've lost that extra reassurance that someone will always be there supporting you."

Even though I didn't want to admit it, I think he was right. He hit the nail right on the head. Without wanting them to, the tears started flowing like water works again. Obviously, Bones had no clue how to deal with my freak-outs. He knew me as always being the calm one. He pushed the box of tissues forward, and I took some, attempting to dry my eyes. "I'm sorry about all this, Bones," I said, knowing I was making him uncomfortable.

"It's, uh, no problem," he replied, grabbing another tissue for me.

"Well, thanks," I mumbled, taking the tissue, and looked down at my hands. "I guess I better let you get back to work." I stood up from the chair, and smiled at him. "How are things going with Adie?" He avoided looking at me, and even though he had that whole "I'm a tough man" exterior, I could sense his heart beating faster at the sound of her name. He didn't answer the question; instead, he went back to doing dictations. I continued to smile, as I turned around, and left his office.

"I was informed by Dr. McCoy that you'd conversed with him earlier today?" Adie's curiosity peaked, as she waited for me to answer.

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask him why I felt the way I did about my dad dying-"

I was interrupted by Chekov, "Your fazer died?" We were sitting in the ship's library; I was studying the same thing I'd been studying all day, while Chekov and Adie read some random books.

It'd slipped my mind to tell Chekov my father had died. "Yeah, he died about a week ago," I mumbled, looking down at my hands, fighting the tears back as I said that.

"Vhy did you not tell me zhis? Now I feel wery badly, Yohanna. I could've helped make you feel better. I'm known for making people happy back een Russia."

I laughed, and blushed. "I'm sorry."

"Eet's okay." He went back to reading his book on engineering physics- although I was pretty sure he'd memorized it already.

"Is that all the two of you talked about?" Adie asked, looking down at her book.

"Yeah, pretty much." I said, and went back to studying, before asking, "So how'd it go with Bones last night?" She never looked up from her book. "Was it really that bad?"

Adie tore her eyes away from her book, and looked up at me. "No, in fact it went quite well." Finally, I got someone to talk! She and Bones were so private about their relationship.

I smiled, and nodded, accepting the fact that she really didn't want to elaborate. I went back to studying only to be interrupted by someone coming up from behind me, and covering my eyes with their hands. "Guess who," and all too familiar voice said.

"Kirk, seriously, I need to study," I said. I heard him laugh, as he removed his hands from covering my eyes. He sat down in the empty chair to my right. I noticed Chekov clench his jaw, not even looking up from his book; I thought that was a little weird, but whatever. Maybe he was just tired.

"C'mon, Jo, can't you take a break? I got us dinner, it's back in my room."

I laughed, and smiled even wider. "I don't know, Captain, you tell me." I loved giving Kirk a hard time, and he knew it.

"I think you can," he answered, smiling back at me. "Now, I know what you're going to do Jo, you're very predictable; don't give me a hard time, and just say yes. I'm too tired to put up with that."

"Aww," I said, pouting my lips, "do I need to play the world's smallest violin for you?"

Kirk laughed, and got up from his chair, offering out a hand for me to take. "Are you coming or not?" he asked; he had that kissable smirk playing on his lips.

I knew I probably should be studying, but I couldn't resist that look Kirk was giving me. I packed up all my books into my bag, grabbed my communicator, and waved goodbye to Chekov and Adie. I took Kirk's hand, and we quickly left the library, heading down the narrow hallways down to his room. When we reached his door, he quickly kissed me, and opened up the door, revealing a still clean room with food on the coffee table in front of the couch. He walked into his room, and turned around to face me, smiling as he asked, "Do you want to come in?" I was still was standing outside his room, looking around in amazement.

I nodded, and stepped into his room, and the door shut closed behind me.

**Well, I hope you all liked it; I'll try to have the next one out in two days, but I can't promise anything. Reviews are greatly appreciated :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey darlings! Sorry it took me so long to get this next one out. It's been a really busy week/weekend; I barely had any time to write. So here it is: the next chapter! I hope you all like it. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and it will keep me motivated to write more. It's not that hard to review, you just click the little button at the bottom of the page, and write a review! It's that simple. Thank you to all of you who added this onto your favorite stories/ alert list; you guys are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek (although I wish I did) and the dance choreography in the dream; I only own the OCs**

"Did you make all of this food?" I asked Kirk, still looking around the room, taking it all in. I could actually see the hardwood floor of the living room for once.

He began to laugh, as he took my hand, and led me over to the couch. "No, I'm even worse than you at cooking," he answered as we sat down. "I got all of this from the cafeteria." Of course, I should've known. I grabbed a plate of salad, and began to pick at it. "Is everything okay?" he asked after a while, noticing I had eaten anything. He, on the other hand, had already scoffed down a whole steak, and was now working on some mashed potatoes.

"Yeah," I lied." I'm just really tired." I took a sip of water, and looked down at the floor; at least part of that lie was true. The fact was I was nervous about our mission. What was waiting for us when we arrived? The neighboring planets to the one we were exploring all had something in common: they all were violent people, who believed that their race was superior to everyone else's. Their societies mirrored that of the ancient Indian's with the caste systems that were put into effect, which resulted in multiple civil wars.

Kirk didn't seem to believe me, but he didn't push it any farther. We were both too tired to bring it up, knowing we'd probably end up fighting about whether I was really fine or not. I was worried for the innocent civilians, and I was worried for t\our crew; what if there was a civil war going on when we arrived? Would we be dragged in to that whole conflict, since we were staying there a full five years. I hoped not; civil wars were messy situations that none of us wanted to get involved.

"_Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, leap, touch, again," Señor Ramirez shouted over the music. "Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch, again." All of us did as he said, memorizing which things went on what beat, attempting to achieve perfection to impress the ballet choreographer. We did the same thing over and over, looking at ourselves in the mirror; it was every vain person's dream to always have to look at themselves in the mirror. "That connects with: turn, turn, out, in, jump, step, step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch. Got it?" Señor Ramirez turned to face all of us; we all nodded, and he continued giving us more directions. _

_Dad was sitting up in the balcony seats, drinking away, and watched us rehearse. He'd been given time off for an almost fatal wound to his chest when he was patrolling the countryside._

"_Alright, let's do the whole combination without stopping," Señor Ramirez yelled out. "I want perfection out of all of you. We've done it enough times, so you should have it down." Then, he called out like a personal metronome, 'Five, six, seven, eight."_

_The majority of the dancers, including myself, got it down perfectly; but some stumbled over their feet, or forgot the steps. "How can you guys screw this up? It's only going to get harder," he would yell at them. I felt sorry for those people who'd screwed up; it was never fun to get yelled at by Señor Ramirez. It hurt your self esteem- which was already low to begin with- and lowered it by about twenty percent each time he yelled at you. "If you feel like you can't handle this, get off my stage right now." Several girls went off the stage, and sat in the audience, watching as he went out counting and barking out orders._

_By the time we'd finished rehearsing, the group had already been cut in half by Señor Ramirez, who believed that these "amateurs aren't fit for this ballet". Dad had also already left. He probably had become tired of watching the same thing over and over, and I was kind of disappointed that he didn't stay. I'd been hoping he would, but, like always, he let me down._

_

* * *

_

_I went back to the house after dinner with a couple of other dancers. It was too quiet, which made me nervous, it was never quiet. "Papá?" I called out. There was no answer. I walked into the kitchen, which was normally where he was at this time of day, sitting on his usual stool in front of the granite counter tops. "Papá, where are you-" There he was, lying on the ground, unconscious. I screamed, and immediately got down next to him, putting my ear on his chest to listen to a heartbeat that wasn't there._

_All of a sudden, my father disappeared, and I was whisked away to an unfamiliar place. Explosions were going off around me, sending dirt flying through the air. I began to run; to where, I had no clue. All I knew was that I needed to get away from this place. Obviously, there was a war raging on from the looks of it, and I knew I needed to get to safety before I was blown to pieces. Trees quickly passed by as I ran through the forest as fast as I could, stumbling over roots and rocks._

_I heard footsteps and shouting from behind me, sending my heart into panic mode, as I came to a clearing in the forest, where I was immediately surrounded by strange looking people in uniforms. They were amphibian-like in their stature, but yet they still looked human. Their skin pale with cat-like eyes, and had slits for a nose that never grew. They were elegant looking, and yet, intimidating._

_Someone grabbed my arm, and twisted me around to face them, holding a gun to my temple. "Why'd you run away, chica? Do you have something to hide?" There was a shot-_

I shot up in bed, breathing heavily; my heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it in my ears. That dream felt so unbelievably real. I could smell, feel, and touch everything in that dream, which I normally couldn't do in dreams. I felt the tears, I could smell the burning wood and flesh, I could feel the soldier twisting me around violently, and that cold gun being pressed against my temple, which sent shivers down my spine. "It was just a dream," I told myself. "It was just a dream."

"What was just a dream?" Kirk asked as he walked in, bearing all sorts of food again.

"Nothing," I lied "It was nothing." He didn't believe me; he had that incredulous look in his eyes. Kirk sat down on the edge of the bed, and offered me some food.

I grabbed an apple, as he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shrugged, and replied, "I don't care."

"Well, go ahead and tell me, Jo; obviously it bothered you. You look as white as a ghost."

The dream did bother me; first of all, I saw my father's dead body, and second of all, I'm pretty sure I was about to die in my dream, which I guess is normal to dream about occasionally; but it probably wasn't normal to feel everything that happened.

I told Kirk all about my crazy dream that started off well, but then took a turn for the worst as soon as my father died. "It was all so vivid; I could've sworn it was real," I said after I finished telling him about my dream.

"But it wasn't, and that's what you need to keep telling yourself," he told me. I finished up my apple, and tossed it into the nearest trashcan. I began to mess around with my hands, only to be stopped by Kirk taking my fidgety hands in his.

"Relax, Jo, it didn't happen. You're awake right now; it didn't really happen. It was just a weird dream. Everyone has those once in a while. Don't let something as stupid as a dream freak you out." He brought my hands up to his lips, and kissed them in an attempt to relax me, and surprisingly enough, it was working.

I smiled at him, and leaned in to kiss him. Our lips met; he pulled me closer to him, and ran his fingers through my already messy hair. I could feel him smiling against my lips. It was one of those smiles that took your breath away. All my anxiety from the dream seemed to melt away for the moment, and allowed myself to enjoy this blissful moment.

Kirk was the one to break the kiss; he rested his forehead against mine, and still smiling, he asked, "Everything's better now?"

I nodded, and smiled again. Everything was going to be just fine.

**Well, there's chapter four; I hope you all liked it. I'll try and get the next one out in the next two days. As always, please review :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Sorry it took me a little over two days to update, I've had writer's block, or just haven't had the energy to write. I hope you like this chapter, as always please review you guys! You're bumming me out here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, although I wish I did. I only own the OCs in the story**

The next day went by quickly- or at least it felt like it. Everyone on the bridge was anxiously waiting for the next day when we would arrive on the planet. All of us wondered what would be waiting for us when we landed. We were all hoping they'd be courteous and friendly towards us; but something in the back of our minds told us that wasn't the case.

We all kept ourselves busy on the bridge. Kirk was talking with Spock about how to approach and introduce ourselves, and stating our mission to their leader. Spock proposed it would be the "logical choice" for Kirk, Bones, and he to beam down alone, along with me as a translator, and peacefully negotiate accommodations, rules, and other things that applied us staying there.

I spent the day going over and studying the different languages and dialects, and I tried to ignore Chekov talking about his home in Russia, but I couldn't. There's no way on earth anyone could ignore him. Luckily, I did study enough to feel accomplished by the time Kirk dismissed us.

Chekov, Adie, Nikki, and I headed over to the observatory to look at the stars, both close and far away. All four of us lay on our backs: I was next to Chekov and Adie, who was next to Nikki.

"They make me feel so small," I said in amazement, causing everyone to laugh.

"That's 'cause you are small," Nikki informed me, as if I didn't know that already.

"Oh, whatever." It was so peaceful just laying there, looking out into space. It almost made me forget about all my worries about tomorrow; at least until Chekov brought it up.

"Yo, are you nerwous about tomorrov?" he asked, sat up, and looked over at me.

"Unbelievably nervous," I replied quietly. I didn't look at everyone, but I could tell they were all looking at me.

"Me too," he confessed. "Vhat's it going to be like zhere?"

I sat up, and shrugged. "I honestly have no clue. If they're anything like their neighboring planets, they'll probably be in the middle of a civil war right now."

"That is a plausible answer, Jo," Adie commented, and sat up too; resulting in Nikki sighing out of frustration as she sat up too. "Do you have an idea of what Captain Kirk is planning?" Adie asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't. I only know that Kirk, Spock, Bones, and I are beaming down before we land to assess the situation, and begin negotiations," I said, causing Adie to perk up when she heard Bones was going down.

Almost on cue, Kirk walked in, and asked, "Lieutenant Espinosa, can I speak with you about tomorrow?"

Slyly, I replied, "I don't know, can you?"

Kirk rolled his eyes, and sighed. "May I speak with you? How's that?"

I smiled and nodded. "Much better." I rose up onto my feet, and followed him out to the hallway. "So, what's up?"

"You're such a smart ass, Jo," he commented about me correcting him, and began to laugh.

"Yeah, I know." I smiled at him, before asking, "Did you want to talk to me about something?"

He calmed himself down before asking, "Has Spock told you about the plan for tomorrow?"

I nodded; he'd informed me about it before I left the bridge with Chekov.

"Good," he said, looking down at his feet, and then back up at me. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" he asked. No, I wasn't, but I still nodded.

"As ready as I'll ever be." At least that was the truth.

"Good, good." He stared at me, intensely, causing me to blush, and look down at my feet. He took my hand in his, and we walked down the hallway. It was the simple things like holding hands that made my heart leap. "Promise me something, Jo-"

"Anything," I replied, immediately, not caring what the promise was. I looked back up at him, and stopped walking, which resulted in Kirk stopping also. He turned to face me, with a serious look on his face. That made me nervous, what was did I agree to?

"If it starts to get dangerous while we're down there negotiating things, I want you to get out, and head for safety."

I nodded, relief washing over me, and then hugged him. "I promise. You have nothing to worry about." Truth was, there were plenty of things to worry about. Would we all be safe?" Would we return in five years with the same amount of crewmembers that we'd started out with? Somehow, I knew the answer to both of those questions: no. It was that voice in the back of my head that told me something bad was going to happen.

My thoughts were interrupted when Kirk asked, "Are you feeling okay?" He knew my thoughts were probably creating anxiety for me; he could probably tell just by looking at me. I could just imagine what I looked like: distant eyes, blank face, a paler complexion- really all the physical signs of someone being anxious. We continued walking down to his room, and he had an arm around my shoulders. I shrugged. I really didn't know whether I was okay or not. "You're going to be okay, Jo," he reassured me. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Then he stopped, and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and we continued to walk towards his room.

We stopped again as soon as we reached his room. "Do you want to come in?" he asked, even though he knew my answer. I nodded, and the door swished open. My thoughts became less anxious as he took my hand, and led me into his room, smiling. I loved his smile, you could tell exactly what he was thinking and feeling just by his smile. "I love you," I whispered quietly to him.

"I love you too," he replied, as he shut the door, and brought my lips up to his.

* * *

The next day around noon, we arrived at the planet. Spock, Kirk, Bones, and I were beamed down onto the planet; but before we did, Adie came to send Bones off. They were so cute together, although they still were a little awkward whenever they showed affection towards one another in front of people. They kissed before we were beamed onto the planet.

We arrived in a densely wooded forest with nobody around. Bits of light shone through the canopy of leaves above us. "Well, were do we go?" I asked, as both Spock, Bones, and Kirk observed their surroundings.

"If my calculations were correct, which I believe they are, we should be just south of the main camp," Spock answered.

Gunshots could be heard through the forest, as we walked, looking for our destination. Kirk and I walked behind Spock, as he guided us the right direction. The gunshots became louder and louder as we approached the camp. Kirk took my hand in his, and gently squeezed it gently, as we looked across the clearing at the large camp.

"hey, hey hey," Bones said, "stop it you two love birds; we're on a mission, not a vacation." Kirk and I both smiled at each other, and rolled our eyes, ignoring Bones.

All the buildings were made of wood, and people, who I assumed were soldiers, marched in formation into the woods. One of the soldiers watching spotted us, and began to walk over towards us. My heart began to race faster as I recognized the man: he was the one who'd held the gun to my head in my dream. I squeezed Kirk's hand tighter, and then let go.

"You alright?" he asked, quietly.

I shook my head. "That's the man from my dreams that held the gun to my head."

Kirk opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it when the soldier approached us.

"State your purpose," the soldier said in a dialect that I, thankfully, could understand.

"He said to state your purpose," I relayed back to Bones, Kirk, and Spock.

"Tell him that we wish to speak with their captain." Kirk said, and I repeated it back in dialect to the soldier. The soldier nodded, and led us down towards the main building.

The furniture and décor inside looked like it was from the 1940s, and the soldiers were carrying old guns and weapons that looked like it was from World War II. Obviously they were behind in technology, from the looks of it. It looked like some of the pictures I had seen as a little girl of the early 1900s.

We were led into what appeared to be a dining room. The fireplace was set ablaze, sending out warmth into what would be considered a cold, damp place. A man was sitting at the head of a very large table, staring at us- well, more like studying us.

"Sir," the soldier who'd led us here said. "These people wish to speak to you."

**Thanks for reading! I'll get the next one out as soon as I get back from Chicago. Review please! Oh yeah, and the action's probably going to start in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey darlings! Sorry it took so long to get this one out; I've been in Chicago the past couple of days, but now I'm back, and as I promised, I am updating. I hope you guys like this chapter, and seriously you guys, review! I miss getting them.**

**Disclaimer: I only own the OCs, not Star Trek (although I wish I did)**

It was beginning to get harder to negotiate with the Captain; he'd stopped listening to our requests after the first five minutes, and began to yell at us.

Apparently, there was a civil war going on. The "rebels" as he called it, wanted the planet to join the Federation; but the Captain and his followers had different ideas. They wanted to wipe out the rebels completely, and remain apart from the Federation. As soon as he found out we were sent from Starfleet, things got a lot worse.

"I order you to leave my planet," the Captain yelled, "or else perish like the rest of the rebels!" He pulled out his gun, and began to fire at us. As I had promised Kirk, I dashed out of the cabin, and away from danger. Kirk, Spock, and Bones were still inside, probably still trying to reason with the Captain; I found it pointless to try and reason with someone who didn't speak English when they didn't even have a translator with them.

I wanted to go back inside, and help, but I promised Kirk I'd get out as soon as it began to get violent. I was regretting that I had made that promise, but I wouldn't break it- that's one thing I'd never do.

"Scotty," I said over the communicator, "beam me back up."

"Is everything okay, Lassie?" he asked.

"I don't know, just beam me back up!"

I was beamed back aboard the ship to find Chekov, Adie, and Nikki waiting there for me. Almost immediately, Chekov stepped up, and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Yo," he told me. "Your heart-rate vas off zhe charts!"

"Yeah, me too," I whispered, and put him at arms distance, with me hands on his shoulders, so that I could get a better look at him. "Are you okay?"

He began to laugh before saying, "Of course I am. Vhy vouldn't I be?"

I shrugged, and then directed my attention over to Scotty, who was probably speaking with Kirk. Before I knew it, Bones, Kirk, and Spock were back. Adie was immediately at Bones's side, making sure he was okay. She and Bones both walked out of the room, quietly. I turned away from Chekov to face Kirk.

Kirk took my hand, led me out to the hallway, and down to an empty room. As soon as we got where no one could see us, Kirk asked, "Are you okay?" I got a better look at him. He looked disheveled and frustrated. His hair was a mess, his uniform had dirt all over it, his brow was furrowed, and his eyes had dark circles around them.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, placing a hand on his cheek, and wiped away a smudge of dirt. "What are we going to do, Kirk?" I asked, after a couple moments of silence.

"We're going to help out the rebels while we're here. I managed to contact the leaders of the rebels, and he'd be grateful for the help; he even gave us the coordinates for their hideout, but…" he began to trail off.

"But what?" I asked, beginning to get nervous.

"They need someone to infiltrate the cabins by going undercover as a servant, which is a position the Captain has been looking for, and they need someone who speaks the language-"

"Which would be me," I finished for him. "Did you already tell them I would?" Kirk nodded, and focused his gaze on the wall behind me. I didn't know what to think or feel. On one hand, I was glad to help out in any way I could; on the other hand, however, I was terrified. What if the whole company of soldiers find out? I would probably be killed, and I didn't want to be killed just yet. Things were going so well for me, minus the death of my father; I was happy for once: I had an amazing job position, I had some pretty close friends, and I loved Kirk, and he loved me- even if we were both stubborn people.

Kirk looked guilty, as if he'd just signed me off to die. I hated seeing him like that; it was what he needed to do, even if it did put me at risk. I took a step closer to him, and wrapped my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his soft, yet messy, hair.

"Hey," I said, quietly, "look at me." He looked at me, and still had that guilty look on his face. "You did what you had to do, and I'm glad that I can help out. Don't feel guilty, and don't you dare worry about me; I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." I tried to say all that in a steady, confident voice in order to convince Kirk to believe me; but I couldn't, and he didn't believe me.

There was one other way that I was certain would wipe that guilty look off his face. I brought my lips up to his, and gently kissed him. At first, it seemed like I had caught him off guard, and he wasn't sure what to do. Should he break the kiss, and talk me out of following through with the deal? Say that they could get someone else to do it?

He finally came to his senses, and deepened the kiss, turning it into a passionate kiss, rather than a gentle one. His arms snaked around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He seemed a lot less guilty about the whole thing; he was sure that I would follow through with the plan, and be safe. He knew me enough by now to know that I always did as I said, and always exceeded expectations.

Teasing him, I broke the kiss, unwrapped his arms from around me, and said, "Well, I guess I should be heading off to bed-"

"Bullshit," he replied, grabbing my arm, and he pulled me back closer to him. Kirk leaned down, and kissed me again, before asking the question he always asks when I'm being like this, "Do you want to come back to my room?"

I shrugged. "I don't know," I lied. I really did want to go back to his room, but I loved trying to tease him.

He gently kissed me again; that smirk was playing on his lips, and he knew I couldn't resist. "It'll probably be the last time we'll get to do this for a while." He pecked me on the lips, knowing that with each kiss, he was getting closer to me caving in.

I pretended to think about it for a while, before giving in. "Alright," I said, and sighed. "I guess so."

* * *

We lay in his bed, my head was rested on Kirk's chest, and he had his arms wrapped around my waist. We hadn't gotten any sleep, and yet, neither of us was tired. The anxiety of today kept us up when all we really wanted to do was sleep.

"Are you ready for today?" Kirk asked.

"No, but I will be as soon as I get out of bed, hopefully," I mumbled.

"Do you want to get up now?"

"No," I said, bluntly. "I just want to stay here for a little while longer." I didn't want the day to come, but it was already here. How long would it be 'til I have another night like last night? I hoped it wouldn't be in five years; I hoped it was sooner. I prayed that we'd get this civil war settled in a year; but something told me it wouldn't be that easy.

My thoughts were interrupted by Kirk commenting. "Can you believe we've been together for about seven months now?"

I shook my head. "No, I can't; it's gone by so fast."

Kirk nodded in agreement. "I've never been in a relationship this long," he admitted, quietly, a bit embarrassed to actually be voicing his thoughts to me. He said, almost in a whisper, "I'm glad I'm with you, Jo."

I smiled to myself. "Me too." It felt good to realize that I was the first person he's really been in a serious relationship with, and that I was able to get him to say things he would never say out loud.

I finally decided to get up after an hour of just laying there with Kirk, talking about random things to keep our minds off what was needed to be done today. We tried to relax as much as we could, but it was difficult to.

I slipped on my clothes, and sighed. I still wasn't ready to be down on that planet by myself. I mean, I was use to being alone in an unfamiliar place; but this was a whole different thing. I could be killed here. What if they didn't hire me, and decided to just kill me then and there? Would anyone besides them know I was dead? Or what if they saw me sneaking out into the woods to the rebel camp? They would probably torture me first to find out information, and then kill me. All of these possibilities ran through my mind, causing me to panic a little. I almost considered backing out, but I didn't, and I couldn't. They needed me to do this, and I would never let them down.

When I looked back at Kirk, he already had his clothes on. "Well, shall we go?" I asked him, and he nodded slowly. The sleep deprivation was beginning to kick in for him.

We walked hand in hand down to the transporter room, where Scotty was waiting. Nobody else was there, probably because they were still sleeping. I was glad they weren't here; it would've made it even more difficult to leave.

"You ready, Lassie?" Scotty asked me. I nodded, and kissed Kirk, before stepping onto the platform.

**Well, there's the next chapter, I hope you all liked it. Please review! It'll seriously keep me motivated to write. I'll try to have the next on out in the next two days :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey you guys! Here's the next chapter; I hope you all like it. Please review you guys, even if it's a tiny review, I don't care if it's a short thing, it just let's me know someone's reading, and I'm not writing for a ghost or something.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek (although I wish I did), I only own the OCs**

I was beamed down to the rebels' hideout, and was greeted by the leader, Adorjan; we walked into the hideout where the rest of the rebels were. It was a pretty large group, thankfully. It gave me some hope that we had a chance.

The hideout was in a well-hidden cave, which was covered up by trees and bushes. Each of the rebels had what appeared to be a knap sack. Several of the rebels were playing cards, while the rest of them sat around drinking and telling stories. Large rocks served as seats for some of the rebels, and a campfire was the only light in the cave, except for the sun that was shining. Each soldier was covered in grime and dirt. Some had different extremities wrapped in cloth in order to stop the bleeding. What surprised me was that all of them spoke in English. I guessed it was because they wanted to join the Federation, and it would be easier to communicate if they spoke English.

"Everyone, may I have your attention please?" Adorjan called out. Everyone turned their attention over to us, waiting to hear what Adorjan had to say. "This is Lieutenant Espinosa, who has graciously agreed to fill the spot we've needed to fill-"

I guessed the spot he was talking about was the "servant" to the Captain.

"She is from the starship Enterprise, which we will be meeting more of their crew soon," he continued. "I want all of you to be respectful towards her and the rest of the crew." Adorjan looked over at one person in particular as he said that; the person he was looking at smirked, and nodded.

Adorjan turned to me, and asked, "Shall I fill you in on everything we need you to do, as I escort you down towards the base?" I nodded, and we walked out of the cave. "Okay, so what you have to do is take note of where everything is kept, what Captain Csongor is planning, and what he tells his second in command." We stepped over a large fallen tree, before he added, "You will find out what his weaknesses are; also, you will need to steal his letters, along with food, and you will report and bring back everything; but only if you're not being followed. If you are, don't you dare come near us."

I nodded, and made a mental note of everything I needed to do. Would I be glad to do these things? No, I wouldn't; but it's what they need.

After about thirty minutes of walking, we could see the camp. We stopped walking, and Adorjan said, "This is where I leave you. Good luck, Lieutenant Espinosa. We're all counting on you. I hope Captain Kirk was right about you." He pat me on the back, before turning to leave.

_Oh great, that probably means I can't screw up_. That thought caused my stress levels to rise. How was I expected to be perfect at something I was just thrown into at the last minute? What if I did fail? Would that hurt the rebels' chance of winning this war? _You're not going to fail, Jo, stop worrying_ I told myself as I walked down the hill towards the base camp, where I was greeted by the same soldier as yesterday.

"What are you doing back here?" he grunted, grabbing my arm, and pulled me toward the cabin we'd been in yesterday.

"I'm here for the open servant spot," I answered meekly in the same language. We walked into the cabin, where we found Captain Csongor standing in front of the fireplace, watching the flames dance around each other.

"Captain, the girl from yesterday is here for the position of servant that we've been looking for," the soldier laughed as he said that. "Would you like to shoot her, or should I?"

Captain Csongor pulled out a gun, and pointed it at me. I closed my eyes, and broke into his thoughts- which was surprisingly easy to do. Even though I had told myself I would never do that, this seemed like a case where it was necessary to do; it was one of the times I was glad to be Betazoid. I changed his thoughts from shooting me into giving me the position. I prayed it would work; otherwise, I was toast.

"No, that won't be necessary, Eztli. She's obviously abandoned the Federation for a better cause," Captain Csongor explained. "Isn't that right?" he asked me.

I quickly nodded, relieved that my plan had worked. "Now," he continued, "show-" he paused for a name.

"Johanna Espinosa."

"Johanna," he repeated back to Eztli, "to the kitchen where the rest of the servants are."

Eztli nodded, and began to walk toward the kitchen, expecting me to follow him. We entered into the kitchen where there were three other servants cooking what appeared to be lunch. "Everyone, this is Johanna," Eztli announced. "She is a new servant who will be joining you. Show her what is expected to be done everyday, Aneska."

Aneska nodded, and smiled at me. She was a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair, and skin like the rest of the others: pale. She reminded me of the Norwegian women who would go on vacation to Spain.

I walked over beside her, and she held out a cold, reptilian-like hand out for me to shake. I shook her hand, as she said, "Well, right now, we're preparing lunch for the Captain. Today it's deer." Aneska paused, and asked, "Do you know how to cook?"

I shook my head, and replied, "Not really, I'm a terrible cook."

"Well that's okay," her voice rang out like little bells. "I'll teach you how."

Right then and there, I knew I had made a friend here in this dump. Just being around her was comforting. It gave me hope that things would be okay.

* * *

Each day, we did the same monotonous work: clean the cabin, make breakfast, do whatever the Captain orders each of us, make lunch for the Captain, tend to the soldiers, make dinner, take inventory of the storage cabin, and then get ready for bed. Each thing took so much time and effort to do, and yet, the days went by so quickly. Surprisingly enough, a year went by so quickly it caught me off gaurd, and neither side was advancing; they stayed at a stale mate, each side loosing more and more people each day due to infections and the small battles that took place. I was lucky enough, however, that Csongor hadn't caught on to my ulterior motive.

I had managed to gain the trust of Captain Csongor, along with the rest of the soldiers and servants, which was imperative for me to do in order to help out the rebels. However, in order to gain that trust, I underwent some major abuse. The only thing that kept me going was the thought that I was helping out, along with the kindness of Aneska. She had taken on a sort of mother figure towards me. She would watch out for me, and take care of me whenever I was hurt or in trouble.

I was lucky enough to see Kirk three times a week when I went to deliver information to the rebels. The rest of the Enterprise crew was staying with the rebels during our stay, to help them out. We would sit alone at an empty spot, and just talk- which was the only thing we were allowed to do here. We weren't allowed to show any affection towards each other, according to Adorjan; someone might use it against us.

"Are things going better for you down there?" Kirk asked, lifting up my arm, and examining it. There was a newly formed bruise in the shape of a hand there. I pulled my arm away from him.

I nodded, and replied, "Well, as good as it can get, but it's still pretty bad. I swear, about every day, I see someone get tortured to death, even though the majority of the people being tortured are innocent."

Kirk frowned. "That's not good." Leave it to Kirk to point out the obvious. "How'd you get that bruise?" he asked about the bruise on my arm. He looked like he was ready to kill someone. After about a year and a half of being in a relationship with him, I noticed that Kirk was very protective of the ones he cared about.

I sighed, and said, "I tried to stop Csongor from torturing this little boy, and he grabbed my arm really hard, and threw me on the ground out of the way-"

We were interrupted by Adorjan staring down at us, as he said, "Johanna, you should probably head back. It's getting late." I nodded, and sighed again, not wanting to leave Kirk and everyone else.

I smiled over at Kirk, which was the most I could manage without being tempted even more to stay, and quickly left the cave before I changed my mind on the whole helping out thing. I ran through the forest as fast as I could, since walking would take too long. If I was gone even later, I would probably be in trouble.

Unfortunately, I was five minutes late, even though I had been running. Csongor, Eztli, and a couple of other soldiers were standing there, waiting.

"Where were you? You're five minutes late for the dinner you were supposed to be preparing. The rest of the servants were counting on you being there," Captain Csongor yelled, and grabbed my arm where the bruise was; he looked as if he was about to hit me. I flinched, waiting for the blow I knew was about to come. "Where were you, you little bitch?"

"Now there's no need for name calling," I said. "I was just out for a walk since the night was so nice," I tried to explain, but none of them believed me.

"Lies," he yelled back, and slapped me across the face. "Now where were you?"

"I swear, I was just walking through the forest, and I lost track of time-"

"And who gave you permission to go for a walk?" he interrupted. I finally decided to look up at him. His eyes were burning with hatred and anger.

Quietly, I replied, "No one, Captain. I just thought I could since I had some time-"

Csongor seemed to calm down, but I could tell something was up. "Do you realize, Johanna, that there are rebels in the forest who would kill for the information you know?"

Obviously I knew that, seeing as I'd been working with them. "No sir, I didn't," I lied. The soldiers behind him rolled their eyes. How could anyone not know that?

Csongor nodded slowly, obviously not believing me. "Badru, would you take Johanna over to the storage house? I'll be there in a minute, I just need to get some things," he said. The soldier called Badru nodded, and took my arm, steering me over to the storage house.

He waited with me inside the cabin, as I began to panic. Csongor was going to torture me until I told him the truth. I didn't want to undergo that after watching so many people go through that. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but I didn't expect it to happen now.

**Well, I hoped you guys like it. Sorry I posted this one a little later than I had promised; it has been a really busy past couple of days. I will try and get the next one out asap, which will hopefully be in two days, but I can't promise anything. As always, review please, it lets me know someone is reading this.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey you guys! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, it's been a crazy past couple of weeks. I've had running camp, theater camp, and I've been traveling a lot; so I really haven't had that much time to write, and when I did, I had writer's block. However, I did manage to get this one out XD. I wanted to say thanks to mistressofdarkness666 and to all of you who added this story to your favorites! That means so much to me you guys! Keep the reviews coming! They are greatly appreciated, and will keep me motivated to write.**

**Disclaimer: Same as always, I don't own Star Trek, only the OCs**

I had to do something fast. Once again, I thanked the lord I was Betezed; I was able to get inside Badru's head, and I got him to let me out of the shack before Csongor came back.

I made a run for the forest, moving as fast as I could. Shots were being fired all around me both from the rebels' forest, and from the soldiers behind me; I desperately tried to make it to the forest. People were shouting from behind me, asking where I was going, or what I was running from.

As soon as I reached the forest, I heard the sounds of horses galloping after me. It became harder and harder to breathe when I realized that this was exactly like my dream. Everything from the surroundings to the sounds and feelings I was currently experiencing were the same.

It began to drizzle, as I got deeper and deeper into the forest. I didn't even know where I was anymore, which freaked me out even more. I was panicking: I knew the outcome of all of this already: I'd wind up dead.

I heard footsteps and shouting from behind me, sending my heart into panic mode, as I came to a clearing in the forest, where I was immediately surrounded by strange looking people in uniforms. They were amphibian-like in their stature, but yet they still looked human. Their skin pale with cat-like eyes, and had slits for a nose that never grew. They were elegant looking, and yet, intimidating.

_Someone grabbed my arm, and twisted me around to face them, holding a gun to my temple. "Why'd you run away, chica? Do you have something to hide?" There was a shot-_

I saw the all too familiar clearing from my dream, and I could hear my hear beat in my ears, as I was suddenly surrounded by soldiers. Each one of them had their guns pointed at me. It began to downpour, and it seemed like every hope for escaping was shot down.

Someone grabbed my arm, and whipped me around to face him. Instead of it being Eztli like my dream, it was Captain Csongor. He pointed his gun at my heart, which I was positive he could hear.

"What could you possibly be running away from, Johanna?" Csongor asked, slyly. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

I took a deep breath, before screaming, "Let me go!"

He only smiled, and cocked the gun. "Now, there's no need for screaming," he replied, coolly. "Just come back with us, and tell me everything you know. Or, I can just kill you right here, right now-"

I spit in his face, and shook my head. Then I heard a gun go off. Captain Csongor fell to the ground, but not before pulling the trigger.

I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, and placed a hand over the spot that was now aching, and felt something wet. I looked down at my hand, and I could feel the blood drain from my face. Blood was seeping through my fingers, as I heard shots being fired all around me.

Three familiar, but blurry, faces surrounded me: Kirk, Chekov, and Spock. "She requires medical attention immediately," I heard Spock comment. Shots were being fired from all around us; it was a miracle none of them were shot

"Chekov, you will take Lieutenant Espinosa over to Bones and Adie back at the cave. Spock, I will need your help here," Kirk ordered, trying to sound like he wasn't panicking, but I could tell he was. He and Chekov both were panicking, in fact. I guess I looked pretty bad, but I didn't want to look and see; instead I kept my eyes on Kirk. Chekov and Spock nodded, and did as they were told.

Chekov scooped me up in his arms, and carried me out of the fray we were currently caught in. Tears of pain and panic rolled down my cheeks; the wound was throbbing, causing me to scream out in pain. My abdomen felt like it was being ripped apart. The scenery went by quickly; many of the rebels that we were passing were fighting with the soldiers.

The noises of the fight grew softer and softer as we got closer to the cave. "Hang in zhere, Yo. Ve're almost zhere," Chekov whispered to me. "Stay conscious; no falling asleep now. I von't allow it."

I nodded slowly, and fought against my heavy eyelids to keep them open. Darkness drifted over me in waves, but I wouldn't allow it to pull me down just yet.

Finally, we arrived at the cave, and I was given over to Bones and Adie immediately. "Ensign Chekov," Adie said politely," you may go back and help-"

"No!" I interrupted, speaking with as much power as I could muster. "I want him to stay."

Chekov grinned, and walked over to my side, as Bones gently placed me down on the ground.

"Look kid," Bones said to Chekov,"if I tell you to move out of the way, you sure as hell better move."

"Yes sir," he replied, and took my hand in his.

* * *

I woke up to another spasm at the site of the wound. I groaned, and curled up into a ball, trying to stop the pain.

"Oh good, you're awake," Bones commented from behind me. I didn't bother to look at him. I saw waking up as coming back to the pain of reality; whereas he saw it as my condition improving, even if it didn't feel like it. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"How does it look like I'm feeling?" I replied, a bit on edge from the pain, and probably because I hadn't gotten much sleep over the past three days. The rebels and the rest of the crew from the Enterprise hadn't returned yet, which was probably why I'd lost a lot of sleep.

The pain subsided for a moment, and I sat up, looking around me. Chekov had fallen asleep beside me, Bones was sitting next to Adie on a large rock, and the cave was still deserted.

"You know, that kid never left your side," Bones pointed out to me. I looked down at Chekov, and smiled. He would be the person that stays to make sure I was okay; he'd probably say, "A Russian man newer leawes a fellow in need."

He really was a great friend I had to admit, and it made me happy to be around him. His cheerfulness, and his optimism seemed to wear off on me every time I was with him.

However, my momentary happiness ended as soon as I thought about Kirk. Where the hell was he? Was he okay? What if he was alone in the woods bleeding to death?

As if she read my mind, Adie commented, "Captain Kirk is safe, Johanna. He'll return soon. Now lay back down, and rest."

I nodded, trusting Adie, and lay back down on my side, facing Chekov. I studied his boyish features. He seemed so at ease right now, and there was a smile playing on his lips, causing me to smile. He seemed to regress in age as he slept. I couldn't believe he was almost nineteen now; it made me feel so old.

I was glad he was with me; he was one of my closest friends on the ship, and I always felt happy with him.

"How's she doing?" I heard Adorjan ask Bones.

"Better. Where's Captain Kirk?"

"He's coming," Adorjan answered. I shot back up and looked around. "Ah, Lieutenant Espinosa! I'm so glad you're doing well," he said, and walked over to me. "Words cannot describe how grateful we are for you. You helped us immensely in bringing down Csongor and his men-"

"So did we win?" I asked, causing Adorjan to smile.

"Almost, there's still a couple of things that need to be taken care of, but you all are free to leave if you wish to do so…"

I stopped listening to Adorjan when I heard the voice I'd been waiting to hear ask, "Is she okay?"

"Yes, Captain," answered Adie, "She's very fatigued though, so-"

"No I'm not!" I interrupted, and stood up onto my feet; my vision blurred a little bit, and then cleared up.

Both Bones and Adie rolled their eyes at me. It was painfully obvious how tired I was. My eyes felt unbelievably heavy, and whenever I'd try to focus on something, I'd feel like I went cross-eyed; but still, no matter how tired I was, I ran over to Kirk, threw my arms around him, and hugged him.

Kirk smiled down at me, and pulled me closer to him. It felt nice to be with him again. I felt safe in his arms, and it made me feel like everything was okay. I missed that feeling, and I was so glad it was back again.

* * *

The next day, the remaining crewmembers of the Enterprise beamed back aboard the ship, after being reassured by the rebels that they could handle the rest since Kirk took out Csongor.

Starfleet was allowing us to return to base, saying that they'd send someone else out to finish what we'd started.

I was put in sickbay for more observation to make sure I was fine, and as always, Chekov hardly ever left my side. He claimed that a Russian man was loyal to his friends.

"Do you vant me to get you somezhing to eat?" he asked politely, as he smiled over at me. His smile was almost better than Kirk's- almost.

"No, but thanks anyways." I smiled back at him. "If you're hungry, you can go ahead and get something. It's not like I'm going to keel over and die while you're gone," I said, joking around with him.

We both laughed, and he shook his head. "No I ate vhile you vere sleeping." The smile on his face faded suddenly, as his gaze moved from my eyes to something behind me.

"Whas- Oh hey, Kirk!" I said, a bit surprised to see him here so early. He hardly ever visited me during the day since he was so busy with the ship. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed, and sat down next to me on the bed. I noticed Chekov glare over at Kirk- which he seemed to do a lot whenever I was with Kirk. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm here to see you."

"Captain, I'll have to ask you to please get off Lieutenant Espinosa's bed," Nikki yelled from across the room, causing Chekov to smile again.

"Chekov, I would like to speak with Johanna privately," Kirk commented, obviously wanting Chekov to leave.

"Vith all respect, Sir, I vas here first, and vould still like to visit with Miss Yohanna," Chekov replied; both were glaring at each other. Chekov didn't budge from the chair beside my bed.

"I don't care if you were here first, I just need to talk with Johanna for a second. Surely you can stand to be away from her for at least five minutes," he said, his voice raising in volume.

Chekov remained quiet, as he rose up from his chair, and stormed out of sickbay.

My temper rose as soon as Chekov left. Kirk had been rude to him. He was obviously jealous that Chekov spent more time with me than he did; but that still wasn't a reason for Kirk to be an ass. "You didn't have to be so rude to Chekov, you know…" I trailed off, noticing the glare Kirk had on his face.

"I wasn't rude."

I rolled my eyes, and let out a frustrated sigh, before saying, "Fine, whatever. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Kirk sat down in the chair Chekov had been sitting in, and looked down at his hands to avoid looking at me. I prepared myself to hear whatever it was he was about to tell me; it was obviously something big and serious if he was acting like this. The only question was: what is it?

**Well, I hope you guys liked it! I'm almost done with the next chapter, so it hopefully should be out soon :) Please review you guys, it means a lot to me, and it's not that hard to do ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter like I promised! It's out earlier than I expected it to be, so that's always a plus. Seriously you guys, review! You're really bumming me out! I know you guys are out there reading it! I love getting feedback, even if it's the simple 'good chapter, update asap'! I really don't care, as long as they aren't flames. Anyways, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, only the OCs, and Adie is srslyallison's**

My temper rose as soon as Chekov left. Kirk had been rude to him. He was obviously jealous that Chekov spent more time with me than he did; but that still wasn't a reason for Kirk to be an ass. "You didn't have to be so rude to Chekov, you know…" I trailed off, noticing the glare Kirk had on his face.

"I wasn't rude."

I rolled my eyes and let out a frustrated sigh, before saying, "Fine, whatever. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Kirk sat down in the chair Chekov had been sitting in, and looked down at his hands to avoid looking at me. I prepared myself to hear whatever it was he was about to tell me; it was obviously something big and serious if he was acting like this. The only question was: what is it?

"There have been rumors that Starfleet is going to split us up unless we-"

"Breakup?" I finished for him. Great, that's just great! Of course this had to happen when everything was finally going well. I guess I could see it coming- we all could- but I never thought it would actually happen. "So that's it?" I asked, fighting back the unwanted tears. "We're breaking up…"

Kirk still didn't look up at me. "Either that, or we get married…we could be married…"

What the hell? Was this Kirk speaking? The womanizer who claimed he wasn't the marrying type? It knocked me speechless for a little while; I mean, what was I going to say to that? I didn't want to breakup, but I didn't want to get married just yet either. Kirk finally looked up at me, waiting for an answer.

I thought for a moment and then finally said, "I don't want you to be forced to ask me to marry you just because of this stupid situation we're in. I want you to ask me because you really want to. And besides, this isn't how I pictured it happening."

"And how did you picture this happening?" He was becoming irritated with me, probably because it wasn't going the way he'd wanted it to. I'd be frustrated with me too.

"I don't know exactly; but I know it should be more romantic, more perfect. There should be a ring, and candlelight, and flowers." I looked down at my hands to avoid looking at Kirk, who rose up from his chair, and left the room.

Was that it? Were we over just because of what I had said? Boy did I need a drink right about now. "Hey Nikki!" I yelled. She looked at me and rolled her eyes as she walked towards me.

"Yes, Jo?" She asked, looking down at my chart.

"Do you think I could possibly be discharged today?" I asked, innocently.

Nikki nodded her head as she flipped through my chart. "I don't see why not. Everything seems to be normal-"

"Sweet, thanks," I mumbled, and rolled out of bed.

"Is everything okay, Jo?" she asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah," I lied. "Everything's a-okay." I tried to smile, but couldn't. "Where's Chekov?"

"He's waiting outside sickbay for you to call him back in. He wasn't sure if he should come in yet-"

Before Nikki even finished her sentence, I rushed out of sickbay, and saw Chekov standing right outside the room. I grabbed his hand, and rushed towards the bar.

"Is eweryzhing alright?" he asked from behind me. I stopped suddenly, causing Chekov to run into the back of me. "Sorry, Yo," he mumbled. He looked worried, which I hated because I hated when people were worried about me. Nobody should worry about me.

I turned around to face him. "No, everything is not okay, and I need a drink."

Chekov nodded, and we continued to walk towards the bar. Thankfully Chekov didn't know I wasn't supposed to be drinking alcohol, which meant I could actually have one.

The bar was relatively empty for once, which was a good thing for me: when there were a lot of people at the bar, Kirk was normally around.

Chekov and I took the two middle seats at the bar, as I said to the bartender, "One margarita please-" I paused, and asked, "Chekov, do you want anything?"

"I'll take a vater," he told the bartender, who nodded, and got our drinks. As I downed the margarita, Chekov asked, "So vhat's vrong Yohanna?" He looked concerned and serious.

The bartender brought over another margarita. "Kirk asked me to marry him-"

Chekov spat out the water he was currently drinking, and yelled, "Vhat?! Vhat did you say?"

"I didn't really answer him," I admitted, and drank the rest of the margarita. "I just told him I didn't want him to be forced to ask me to marry him, and how it wasn't how I pictured the entire thing happening." I sighed, and looked over at Chekov to see his reaction. He was emotionless for once; he looked as if he were thinking about something.

Chekov remained quiet while I began to drink another margarita. "I don't even know if we're still together or not," I continued. My head was buzzing due to the alcohol; but on the plus side, I couldn't really feel anything anymore. My head felt heavy, like it was dangling ten-pound weights on the back of my ponytail. "I mean, where do we go from here?" I rested my head on the bar countertop, and sighed again.

* * *

About an hour later, I was really starting to feel the alcohol affect me now.

I looked over at Chekov, and smiled. "I like you, do you like me?" I asked without knowing what I had just said. I was already at the point of not even realizing what I said, and if this was like all the other times, I won't even remember it.

Chekov blushed. "Okay, Yohanna, I zhink it's time for you to head back to your room, and stop zhe drinking," he mumbled, lifting me up out of my seat, and steadying me.

"You do like me, don't you?" I giggled, and looked over at him.

He avoided looking at me. "You're wery drunk, Yo," he stated, as I yanked my arm away from him, and began twirling unsteadily down the hallways.

I toppled over onto the ground, half laughing and half crying. I felt like I was going insane. Too many emotions hit me all at once, which I definitely could not handle.

Chekov was immediately at my side, helping me up onto my feet. "Let's get you back to your room," he said, quietly, as he finally looked at me. I nodded, and we made our way back down to my room.

We stopped outside my door, and I turned around to face Chekov. "Thank you for putting up with me, Chekov." I hugged him, and it felt so nice to have him hug me back. I needed a hug right now when it felt like my world was crashing down into the unknown, spinning out of control like a top.

He laughed, and said. "It's not a problem. It's what friends do." Chekov smiled down at me, and I could help but smile back.

"Well, goodnight, Chekov," I mumbled, quietly, as I quickly kissed him on the cheek, and went inside my room.

I was curled up in a ball, hugging my knees to my chest to make the pain go away. The pain of everything coming down- along with the pain of the nasty hangover I was currently experiencing- was a lot to bear at the moment. I started at the picture of my friend and me after one of our opening shows. It was already morning, and I was late for my work. I couldn't help thinking that I should've said yes; then Kirk and I would at least still be together. It felt terrible to know that we were probably over; Kirk was the one that kept me from freaking out if something bad happened. He was the one who made me smile every time I see or think of him.

There was a knock on my door, bringing me out of the thoughts of regret. "Who is it?" I yelled as loud as I could without setting off another head-splitting migraine.

"It's Adie," the familiar voice from the other side of the door replied.

"Come in, it's open." The door swished open, and Adie came in, and walked calmly over to me.

"Are you alright, Johanna? I've been informed that you are in hour late for your duties," she asked, sitting down on the ground next to me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not alright," I answered, and proceeded to tell her everything that happened between Kirk and me, and how stupid and embarrassed I felt. By the end of explaining everything that happened, I had tears streaming down my face. "I sometimes even wonder what the hell I'm doing here."

"It's going to be alright, Johanna, it's going to work itself out with time, and you're here because this is what you're meant to do, and it's something you love," she paused, and rubbed my back in a comforting way. "Now, I'll go inform Captain Kirk that you're taking a personal day today."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, and managed to smile. "Thanks, Adie."

"Do you want me to remain here with you?" she asked, kindly, getting back up onto her feet.

I shook my head. "No, I replied. "I just need some time alone right now."

I went over to the stash of cigarettes that still remained in my closet, pulled one out, and began to smoke. I smiled. It felt good to finally do this again; it was a rush to do something I wasn't supposed to do. Kirk would hate me for doing this, but I figured he's not around anymore, so what the hell. If it kills me, I'll be killed happily.

**Yay for the next chapter! I hope you all liked it. I'll try to have the next one out soon (which should be by Saturday). Review please :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! The story is almost done! I am planning on writing another one in this whole thing, but only if you guys want me to. Let me know because if you don't, I won't write it because I'll just assume you guys don't like it. As always, review, and also let me know what you think. Oh hyeah, and a huge thanks to Tiger who reviewed, and made my day :)**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is probably not mine, but I own the stuff you don't**

I was bent over the lovely porcelain throne that was the toilet, waiting to throw up again. The nausea was coming in waves due to the hangover I was currently experiencing; which, of course, forced me to stay in the bathroom for the majority of the day.

Thankfully, however, I was well enough to make it to my bed later on that day. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to relax and calm myself down. Tears threatened to fall, and I felt lonely. I now hated being alone. Why did I have to tell Adie that I'd wanted to be alone? That was so stupid of me! I rolled over onto my stomach, and tried to reach Chekov over the communicator.

"Hey Chekov?" I asked, seeing if he would respond.

"Hey Yohanna!" I heard him say, excitedly, over the communicator.

"Can you come to my room?" I asked, on the verge of crying. "I don't want to be alone."

"Yeah sure! I'll be zhere in a second," he said. There were a couple minutes of silence before there was a knock on my door.

I immediately got up onto my feet, blacking out for a second, and then regaining my composure before going to the door. It swished open, and Chekov was standing there with that cute smile of his. "Come in," I mumbled, receiving a worried look from him.

"Yo, are you okay?" he asked. I shook my head, and the tears started to fall. He pulled me into a comforting hug, and I cried.

* * *

An hour later, we both lay on my bed. Nothing had happened, we were just lying there. He was trying to calm me down even more. I had managed to stop crying, thankfully, and Chekov kept me distracted by talking to me about random things like how close we are to home, and how in Russia the food is amazing. "You'll vill have to come with me to Rusia sometime," he commented, feeling nostalgic about his home.

It was about 11:30 at night by the time I heard an all too familiar voice ask over the communicator, "Hey, Jo, are you there?" I could feel Chekov tense up at the sound of Kirk's voice. I wasn't ready to hear his voice yet. Maybe it was a good idea that Kirk and I should be separated; I couldn't bear hearing him speak. The tears began to surface again.

"Jo, seriously, if you're there and listening, can you come down to my room? We need to talk."

Both Chekov and I remained quiet, as I debated what I should do. _I probably should go down there._ I was so nervous on what I should do. If I went down there, I might officially have my heart broken in half. If I didn't, my heart will be partially broken, but still able to heal over time..

I sighed, and rolled out of bed. "I think I'm going to go see him," I told Chekov, who nodded slowly. I quickly went and got ready so that I would look at least halfway decent, instead of looking like I'd been throwing up and crying all day.

I walked down the hallway that felt like it was getting thinner and thinner as the seconds ticked on. As I made it to the door, I mustered up the courage to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I heard Kirk ask from behind the door.

"It's me," I simply said, and the door swished open. Kirk came out, and pulled me in close to him, which really confused me. Then he grabbed my hand, and led me into his room. The doors swished closed behind us.

I stared around the surprisingly clean room. The lights were dimmed; on the coffee table was a single candle in the middle of the table, and the two plates of food were set at either side of the coffee table. Orange and yellow lantanas were all over the room. The fire was going, and Frank Sinatra was playing in the background.

I stared around, awestruck at everything he had done. "Holy shit, Kirk!" I screamed. "This is amazing!"

"So you like it?" he asked, smiling a huge adorable, lopsided smile.

I laughed, and hit him in the shoulder. "Of course I do!" All my worries flew away as I walked over to the coffee table; Kirk followed behind me, and we both sat at either side of the coffee table.

I immediately began to eat, feeling famished since I really hadn't eaten at all that day. I scarffed down the replicated mashed potatoes and moved onto the filet mignon before Kirk had even started eating. When I looked up at him, he was pushing food around on his plate, thinking about something.

"You okay?" I asked him, putting down my fork and knife.

He nodded, and replied, "Yeah, I was just thinking."

I smiled at Kirk. "About what?"

"Nothing," he said, and smirked.

"Bullshit," I said, laughing. "It's impossible to think nothing. Now, what are you thinking?"

"Fine," he muttered, and pulled something out of his pocket. He slid a box across the table, and I picked it up, examining it.

"You were thinking about a box…" I trailed off, joking around with him.

"Just open it, Jo." He didn't find my comment as amusing as I did. I opened up the small blue box, which contained a plain ring with nothing on it; just a simple, silver ring. I picked it up, and held the ring between my thumb and index finger. "It's only temporary. I promise I'll get an actual ring instead of one that came out of a cereal box."

I laughed, and put the small band on my bony ring finger. I held it out to the light, and examined it. "I'll tell you one thing, Kirk. I'd marry you for your money in a minute. Would you marry me for my money?"

"In a minute," he replied, laughing as soon as he recognized the quote from _Breakfast at Tiffany's._

"I guess it's pretty lucky neither of us is rich, huh?"

"Yeah." A huge smile crossed his lips, as he asked, "So, will you marry me?"

"Of course!" I answered without hesitation, without thinking.

He let out a sigh of relief; obviously he was worried I would've rejected him again. Part of me was relieved too: we weren't actually breaking up.

Suddenly, a upsurge of nausea hit me, and I rose up onto my feet, and headed straight for the bathroom. I luckily made it in time, with Kirk following close behind me.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I seemed to be asked that a lot lately. He had his question answered when I threw up. "Are you hungover?"

"No," I managed to say before throwing up again. That was a huge lie, and he knew it. He knew I was one of those people who got sick the day after they're drunk, instead of while they're drunk.

"You are, aren't you?"

I slowly nodded, and the nausea passed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist," I mumbled, and buried my face in his chest. "I thought we were over after what had happened yesterday…"

Much to my surprise, he laughed, and remarked, "You were just so devastated that you couldn't handle not being around me." He was joking around with me, and being cocky. "So I'm going to guess that you smoked too?"

I looked up at him, and nodded. "Jesus, Jo, what the hell were you thinking?"

I really wasn't thinking when I did those things; I just wanted to numb the pain. I only shrugged to answer him, and then ran back to the toilet, ready to throw up again. Kirk was rubbing my back, attempting to comfort me as I began to throw up for the umpteenth time.

About an hour later, the nausea finally ended. Kirk allowed me to use his bathroom to clean up, thankfully. I felt much better after I finished cleaning up. I changed into one of Kirk's shirts, and into his sweatpants.

I walked out of the bathroom, smiled, and walked over to the couch where Kirk was now seated.

"You look good in my clothes," he said, as I sat down beside him, and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, except for the fact that they're falling off.

He laughed, and replied, "And what's wrong with that?" Leave it to Kirk to say something like that. He grinned like a little boy, and I returned that grin with a quick kiss on the lips. Deciding to joke around with Kirk a little bit, I got up to leave, but was pulled back down on the couch by Kirk. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to my room," I replied, knowing it would drive him crazy if I actually did. "It's really late, and I need to get to bed." I tried getting back up again, only to be pulled back down again. Kirk had me pinned on the couch, smiling triumphantly.

His lips came crashing down onto mine unexpectedly, and caught me off guard; it didn't take long for me to respond though. I ran my fingers through his already messy hair, and pulled him down on top of me.

Much to my dismay, he broke the kiss, and whispered into my ear, "Stay."

I smiled, and nodded, wrapping my arms around his neck. I brought my lips up to his, not being able to resist him any more.

Kirk was the one who deepened the kiss this time, as he picked me up off the couch, and carried me over to the bed, all without breaking the kiss. I smiled against his lips, feeling completely and utterly happy that we were together again.

**Yay for the 10****th**** chapter! Even though I've only had two reviewers (that I love for reviewing by the way)… Anyways, review please. It's not that hard to, it's quite simple really. Also answer the question I had asked before the story.**


	11. Author's Note

**Hey you guys! So I think I'm going to leave the story there. Ten chapters is good enough I think. Keep an eye out for the next story. I have decided to write another one! Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed and added this story onto your favorites; it really means a lot to me, and it keeps me motivated to continue writing. Also, I just wanted to say thank you so much to my wonderful beta reader: srslyallison. You are the best, and I'm so glad that you've helped me.**


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